Sunday, October 17, 2010

49ers finally win but still have failure to communicate

They still have a big problem. They still have a failure to communicate.

First of all with his team 0-5 last week, 49ers president and CEO Jed York reportedly sent a text message to an ESPN reporter predicting (boasting?) that the 49ers would win their division.

The Seahawks and Rams apparently got that message, too, because they both posted upsets win on Sunday. If it was York’s intent to light a fire under the 49ers, he also succeeded in firing up the rest of the NFC West.

Good luck with that. The 49ers were never that stupid/arrogant when Jed’s Uncle Eddie was running the team and they were routinely winning 10 games a year.

In addition, the text message last week may have distracted the 49ers. They sure had a difficult time focusing on Sunday.

They had nine men on the field for a field goal attempt. They were forced to call timeout and punted.

They had 10 men on the field for a punt return.

Yet their special teams coach is still employed by the team.

Furthermore, quarterback Alex Smith and wide receiver Josh Morgan weren’t on the same page. They had a breakdown in communication so bad that the 49ers were penalized for intentional grounding.

“That’s not worth discussing,” 49ers coach Mike Singletary said.

OK, how ‘bout this?

The worst example of miscommunication, however, came in the fourth quarter after the 49ers had taken their first lead of the game. They had momentum and it carried Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell into his own end zone that looked like a two-point safety from my living room and, I’m guessing, from the press box.

It was a golden opportunity for Singletary to throw a challenge flag. But he kept it in his pocket. Apparently either no coach in the press box saw a replay and relayed it to Singletary or Singletary didn’t want to risk wasting timeout if his challenge failed. Given that the 49ers have a penchant for wasting timeouts to prevent five-yard penalties, what’s the risk in wasting one that might result in a two points and a six-point lead?

The 49ers have a win under their belt and the softest part of their schedule coming up but one victory must not overshadow the myriad of mistakes and miscommunication that have dogged this Singletary-coached team.

The 49ers can never win the West if they can’t clean up their own mess.